brad silk

Growing up in a suburban town outside of Boston--home of a convoluted history of liberal movements, environmentalists, the bus riots, mystics, students, and sport fanatics--I am acutely aware of ingrained or internal prejudices. Painting is my way of confronting these demons. References of Americana, cartoons, and classical painting all invade my work, creating a layered exploration of bizarre scenes, found imagery, text and figurative landscapes. Limited palette is used to express the ambiguity and vague nature of our lives. Each layer creeps in as a fog, obscuring any clarity. But the work is not without surprise or specifics. Sometimes inane, sometimes to stress action, emoticons or splashes of color will jump from between veils of haze. Memories--honest and fabricated; mine and others; fragmented and complete--wash through landscapes to sometimes reveal a surreal scene of chaotic movement or serene shift of color. Ghostly images and text flood the canvas and weave through scenes and figures. Stories hide behind colorful gestures and reveal themselves like spirits in a bog. Often dark or eerie, my work delve into the human condition without answers.